Windham High School Band Nets Top Honors in Chicago

The Orchestra Hall at the Chicago Symphony Center was the backdrop of a major milestone for the Windham High School concert band Monday morning as the students took home top honors at a national festival.

At the WorldStrides Heritage Performance Festival of Gold, the group finished as the top scoring concert band out of a field of four. The victory came by a single point.

"To receive the highest score out of these ensembles means the absolute world as there are a multitude of extremely talented organizations performing in this festival," said Band Director Jared Cassedy. "When it comes down to it, it's really about the students. They are the reason why we are able to have and achieves experiences like this.  To see them succeed and really work hard and continue to develop their passion, this is what motivates me each and every day I walk into that classroom."

A total of 60 kids and 13 chaperones made the trip to the midwest on Friday, but the Windham crew certainly wasn't the farthest from home. Bands from California and Florida also made the journey, as well as others from as close as Michigan. A total of 11 states were represented including New Hampshire.

Cassedy spoke to Windham Patch during the intermission of what is known as the encore performance, where the top scoring concert band, orchestra and choirs from the festival come together for a night performance.

All bands were asked to prepare one of the pieces played earlier in the day, and Cassedy also praised Windham's evening effort, calling it "overwhelmingly amazing."

Windham High School Assistant Principal Bob Dawson observed the achievement from the audience.

Dawson praised the Windham students for rising to the occasion.

"I can't tell you how proud I was this morning to watch our kids perform the way they did," he said. "Countless hours of practice as a group and even more individually came together as they filled on of the world's great orchestra venues with their music. The entire Windham community should feel a tremendous sense of pride in the young men and women who represented the school so wonderfully all weekend."

Pieces played during the winning performance included "Puszta (Four Gypsy Dances)" by Jan Van der Root, "O Magnum Mysterium" by Morten Laridsen and Esprit de Corps" by Robert Jager. Cassedy said that the band has been working on the music since January 2013, calling the selections "really difficult literature."

The "Espirit de Corps" piece was played during the encore performance.

Windham School Board Chairman Mike Joanis attended as a chaperone. He applauded Cassedy and the students on Monday night.

"The (Windham High School) Band and Jared Cassedy have once again made the community immensely proud," said Joanis "This band is made up of phenomenal musicians who are also all-around great kids. Mr. Cassedy is a perfect example of the extraordinary influence a teacher can have on young people. Jared is a real gift to Windham."

The band's journey started at the Heritage Festival in New York City last year, where their performance gained them entry into the Chicago event.

While in Chicago, the kids also took advantage of the opportunity to work with Dr. Michael Bankhead of Sam Houston State, whom Dawson referred to as a "high level musical director."

A total of 22 Windham students on the trip were selected for the Honors orchestra. They also performed during the encore event.

Cassedy provided some further information on the festival, which is listed below.

The Heritage Festival of Gold highlights of the talents of the nation's top scoring and highest achieving bands, choirs, and orchestras.  You can only be invited to participate in the Festival of Gold when you have achieved a certain score at a regular Heritage Festival of Music.  With that being said, only a certain number of ensembles are invited to participate in a Heritage Festival of Gold.  This higher-level festival celebrates the musical achievements of the ensembles invited (all of which are extremely high caliber performance ensembles).  To receive the highest score in a festival like this is both validation as well as prestigious as the ensemble is being recognized as a the top of the top. I just wanted to clarify that though we performed with four other concert bands, they were all extremely, extremely talented.